James Cameron Explains Why the World Needs 4 Avatar Sequels

When James Cameron took the CinemaCon stage on Thursday during Fox's presentation to theater owners, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind the $2.8 billion-grossing Avatar joked, “I'll do my best to try to prove myself to 20th Century Fox.”

In the moments following, Cameron did just that—telling theater owners that he has enough Avatar material to warrant four sequels instead of the three previously planned. Cameron said that, as of now, the follow-ups will hit movie screens in Christmas of 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2023. Even if you are a fan of Cameron's mystical blue creatures, though, you might be wondering why the world needs quadruple sequels—aside from, you know, $$$$—and the filmmaker used his time onstage to explain his reasoning.

“I've been working the last couple years with four top screenwriters and with some of the top artisan designers in the world to design the world of Avatar going forward—to design the characters, the creatures, the environment, the new cultures,” Cameron explained. “Everything it takes to bring that world to life. So far, what I'm seeing—the art I'm seeing on the walls. . . the stuff that has been developed is, in pure imagination, is really far beyond the first film. The people who have seen it so far have been speechless.”

“It is going to be a true epic saga that is going to be told in this rich and complex world but we have begun to bump up against the limitations of our art form,” continued Cameron. “There were just too many great visual ideas for two sequels, so we talked to Fox and we expanded it for three sequels. And then as the writing process has continued and as the script work is finishing up, it's not three. It looks like it is four.”

In the meantime, Cameron said that he has been working hard “through partnerships to keep the franchise in the public consciousness.” In addition to the Dark Horse Comics line of graphic novels around Avatar and a Cirque du Soleil show, “Disney theme parks is constructing a new multi-acre land which is called Pandora, the world of Avatar, which is happening right now in Orlando and is going to open next year.

While onstage, Cameron also tossed in his two cents about the ongoing battle between the movie industry and Sean Parker’s Screening Room startup, which proposes to offer audiences the option of watching new releases at home for $50 a pop.

Explaining that he is committed to the “sanctity of the in-theater experience,” Cameron said, “There's always been some kind of threat to the theater-going experience—VHS, DVD, streaming, the list goes on. We always answered that threat in the same way—by being great and creating something in the movie theater that you can't get elsewhere. . .Our job as filmmakers it to keep making films for that screen and take advantage of that enormous canvas, the way it was meant to be used. So together we are going to continue to make this industry the greatest show on Earth.”